Shea-Porter Statement on Latest House Bill to Weaken Wall Street Reform

Statement

Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter (NH-01) released the following statement today after voting no on House Republicans' latest attempt to reward Wall Street megabanks, the Financial Institutions Examination Fairness and Reform Act:

"I fully support providing targeted regulatory relief to community financial institutions, who are indispensable partners in generating economic growth and supporting Granite State small businesses. But this bill is a giftwrapped present with a card that House Republicans addressed to community banks, but when you unwrap it, the present is an enormous giveaway to the largest Wall Street financial institutions. I voted for an amendment to limit the bill to small banks, but House Republicans rejected it. Instead, they ensured that the bill would allow the largest banks and their armies of lawyers to resist making changes that federal bank supervisors determine are needed to protect consumers. It allows those lawyers to drag enforcement decisions into a bureaucratic quagmire. If this bill becomes law, banking supervision would be weaker than it was in 2008. This is not only unnecessary, it threatens the health and safety of our financial system and the economic well-being of every American. We risk tanking our economy if we go back to when Wall Street was allowed to do whatever it wanted and take advantage of consumers, no matter the risk."

Background:

H.R. 4545 -- the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council Act would create an entire new bureaucracy to handle financial regulatory appeals. Each regulator, such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, already has an internal appeals process, and there are judicial remedies available if any regulated institution believes that their appeal was handled unfairly or incorrectly. This legislation would create an unnecessary and duplicative $123 million bureaucratic office to hear complaints, which would slow down enforcement actions.

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